Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1887-11-29
John cabell Breckenridge.
.T1s2I-1s75.1

lS2l-lSI0.
There was never a lore captlVa-
ting actor upon the stage of public
affairs in this country than John G.
Breckenridge. He was the Prince
Rupert of. the era of sectional COM
bustion- Young, handsome, brave,
with commanding gifts of intellect
and eloouence, his presence every
where, in the Senate and in the field,
felt fereibly and at once.
His career was an unfinished shaft
of white marble. Though a conf
dent, self-poised, clear-headed man,
possessed of as much moral and
physical courage as any who ever
lived, he had one of the vulgar, as-
gressive self-assertion of the politi-
cal or military adventurer, and he
found himself much out of place,
both in the Confederacy and during
the period Immediately succeeding
the war; notably so in the latter in
stance To him life became some
thing of a struggle. With many OF
the qualities of Robt. E. Lee, the
dignifed and graceful retirement of
Lee was denied him. He was a law
yer, not a teacher, a poor, honest
man, with q family, whom he tender
ly loved, to maintain, and, with all
this, he stood, politically, outlawed.
His pride rejected all the advances
of meretricious fortune. In an epoch
of extremism, with its sensations
and surprises, he resolutely declined
each of the opportunities and temp
tations it offered him, pursuing the
caln,. even tenor of his way, amid
many and sore trials to his temper,
with a fidelity and composure rare
and beautiful to see. Not a murmur
escaped his lips, nor a word Of self
defence against unmerited criticism !;
and he passed off the scene, even as
he had come upon it before his time,
the finest, noblest illustration of a
superb manhood, within and without +;
the one only peer of Lee among the
chiefs of the Lost Cause, yet differ
ing from Lee in fortunes, for his
were stormy from first to last.
1t is not intended by the solnbrc
character of these reflections to init
mate that, according to the common
lot of man, the later life of John &.
Breckenridge lacked for success. 1t
did not. Immediately upon his re-
turn from his Punishment he obtained
and remunerative employ
ment. But he seemed as q race
horse hitched to a plough. There
was that in his daily drudging, con-
scienciously undertaken and sustain
cd, to bring tears to the eyes of those
who knew what brilliant capacities
were thus cut off from great public
usefulness and obscured to lis
try and himself. What 4 tragedy
are some lives! He seemed to be
dying, tortured to death.
1t is not true that he brought any
of the circumstances of his position
upon himself. There vas no escape
for him from that fatal presidential
nomination in 1860, and after that
his place was fixed. AS little had he
the power to alter his destiny from
1861 onward as to change the III
of the stars. But as a soldier in the
war, and 4 citizen after the var
as an exile in foreign lands
he never swerved the shadow of a
hairs line from the honorable, self
respecting transformations gentleman,
who, without the least effort or any
sacrifice of n most charming, natura!
and gracious %geniality, could give
lessons in department to courts and
courtiers. Like Henry Clay, he was
whatever he was not, q horn king of
men, and no man could come within
the magic of his presence without
this.
These traits of character will c
count not merely for his eXtraOrdina-
ry popularity with the masses of the
people, but for his posthumou5 hold
even upon his political advcrsaries.
The monument which goes up to his
memory and is to be dedicated ut
to-day is not q tribute
Democrats to a Democrat, nor
from Confederates to 4 Confeder-
ate, but from all kentucky and all
fN"SlGIChlhlS " al IIiiI ~ ~ ANSI-
tuckian; in his prime; the rose and
expectancy of the young South in
his life, an example Of chivalric he
in his death, a message from
hal true nobility 4 never
die. All honor to that memory, and
to those who have joined their hands
and hearts to perpetuate it. As long
as manhood survives, the name of
Breckenridge, written thus %imperish-
ably, will stand among Kentuckians
as its fairest symbol, indicated and
surmounted, as Yandell said Of
Gross, by q the milk-white flower Of
4 stainless ife."-Henry WdnerSon
in Courier-Journdl.
q Mad Bulls Work.